Ukrainian Т-64BM Bulat withstood two hits by kamikaze drones

26 November, 2023 The moment of detonation of the Russian kamikaze drone. Freeze frame from the video The Ukrainian ?-64BM Bulat main battle tank withstood two hits by enemy kamikaze drones.

TheDeadDistrict columnist reported this on his X (Twitter) page. According to the video, two kamikaze drones attacked the tank and hit the turret and the engine compartment. The tank's engine compartment was hit under the angle.

The video shows damage to the radiators of the 5TDFM engine. The fact that the combat vehicle left the risk area shows that the engine was not seriously damaged. Nizh reactive armor detonated during the hit to the turret, which protected it from damage.

In August, Militarnyi reported that the Nizh ERA strengthened the protection of Ukrainian tanks. It was produced a month before the start of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war.

Nizh is a Ukrainian third-generation reactive armor, developed in 1997-1998 and adopted by the Ukrainian military in 2003.

Read more on "Reactive armor of armored vehicles: experience in use in the Russian-Ukrainian war"

This ERA destroys the incoming ammunition, creating an oncoming shaped charges.

Damage to the radiators and the place of impact. Freeze frame from video

This happens during detonation of elongated shaped charges (shaped knives) mounted in ERA units. Such an impact is capable of destroying or destabilizing the attacking ammunition, significantly reducing its striking characteristics.

The Ukrainian military had been installing Nizh ERA on ?-64BM Bulat and ?-84 tanks prior to the full-scale invasion.

Modules of Nizh KhSChKV-34 and KhSChKV-19 ERA are designed in the form of parallelepipeds of size 250x125x36 mm or 250x125x26 mm.

They have a weight of 2.8 kg and 2.1 kg, respectively, with the installed profiled shaped elements "knives," the total number of which reaches 7 units.